Extraction, from solid sorbents

Passive samplers are used for specific applications such as for indoor air environments or as passive dosimeters. In this approach, the air containing the organic diffuses to and adsorbs on a solid sorbent without active pumping. The organics are subsequently thermally desorbed or extracted from the sorbent using a solvent (e.g., see Shields and Weschler, 1987). 

The supercritical fluid extraction of analytes from solid sorbents is controlled by a variety of factors including the affinity of the analytes for the sorbent, the tortuosity of the sorbent bed, the vapor pressure of the analytes, and the solubility and the diffusion coefficient of the analytes in the supercritical fluid. Additionally, SFE efficiencies are affected by a complex relationship between many experimental variables, several of which are listed in Table I. Although it is well established that, to a first approximation, the solvent power of a supercritical fluid is related to its density, little is known about the relative effects of many of the other controllable variables for analytical-scale SFE. A better understanding of the relative effects of controllable SFE variables will more readily allow SFE extractions to be optimized for maximum selectivity as well as maximum overall recoveries. 

Preliminary studies on potential methods for the extraction of uranium from sea water took into consideration not only the extraction by solid sorbents, but also by solvent extraction, ion flotation, coprecipitation, and electrolysis. However, for a large-scale uranium recovery only the sorptive accumulation by use of a suitable solid sorbent seems to be feasible with regard to economic reasons and environmental impacts n9). 

Influence of the various factors in static conditions (concentration of heavy metals, both time of contact and ratio of solid and liquid phase, pH of medium) on solution of Pb(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) from water solutions is studied and the optimal conditions of their extraction by organosilica sorbents modified by ions of Al(III) and Cu(II) are found. 

Solid-phase sorbents are also used in a technique known as matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD). MSPD is a patented process first reported in 1989 for conducting the simultaneous disruption and extraction of solid and semi-solid samples. The technique is rapid and requires low volumes (ca. 10 mL) of solvents. One problem that has hindered further progress in pesticide residues analysis is the high ratio of sorbent to sample, typically 0.5-2 g of sorbent per 0.5 g of sample. This limits the sample size and creates problems with representative sub-sampling. It permits complete fractionation of the sample matrix components and also the ability to elute selectively a single compound or class of compounds from the same sample. Excellent reviews of the practical and theoretical aspects of MSPD " and applications in food analysis were presented by Barker.Torres et reported the use of MSPD for the... 

In off-line extraction the extracted analytes are collected and isolated independently from any subsequent analytical technique, which is to be employed next. For example, the extracted analyte can be collected in a solvent or on a solid sorbent. The choice of the collection method affects the possibilities for further analysis. The extracts may be used for final direct measurements (i.e. without further separation), e.g. UV and IR analysis. More usually, however, extraction is a pre-separation technique for chromatography, either off-line (the most common mode of SEE) or on-line (e.g. SFE-GC, SFE-LC-FTTR, etc.). The solvents used in extraction may affect subsequent chromatography. 

Wachs, T. and Henion, J. 2003. A device for automated direct sampling and quantitation from solid-phase sorbent extraction cards by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 75 1769. 

The popularity of this extraction method ebbs and flows as the years go by. SFE is typically used to extract nonpolar to moderately polar analytes from solid samples, especially in the environmental, food safety, and polymer sciences. The sample is placed in a special vessel and a supercritical gas such as CO2 is passed through the sample. The extracted analyte is then collected in solvent or on a sorbent. The advantages of this technique include better diffusivity and low viscosity of supercritical fluids, which allow more selective extractions. One recent application of SFE is the extraction of pesticide residues from honey [27]. In this research, liquid-liquid extraction with hexane/acetone was termed the conventional method. Honey was lyophilized and then mixed with acetone and acetonitrile in the SFE cell. Parameters such as temperature, pressure, and extraction time were optimized. The researchers found that SFE resulted in better precision (less than 6% RSD), less solvent consumption, less sample handling, and a faster extraction than the liquid-liquid method [27]. 

SPE methods with different cartridge packings have been employed for the pre-concentration and clean up of sulfonated azo dyes from waters and soil extracts [110,111], The extraction of solid samples has been carried ont by sonication or Soxhlet extraction and the extracts treated like the water samples. C18 cartridges and columns [111] were used followed by the elution with aqueous organic solvents in the presence of TEA with recovery yields always greater than 65% [93,111], Higher recoveries have been obtained by using C18 columns, pre-conditioned with an ammonium acetate buffer and elnted with methanol [111], The use of styrene-divinylbenzene [93,112], as well as of cross-linked polymeric sorbents with sulfonate functions, was shown to be suitable in the SPE of the more polar componnds [111],... 

The methods developed for HCCP, HCBD, and 1,2-DCP involve the collection of vapors of the compounds from air with solid sorbents in tandem with personal sampling pumps, desorption of the sorbed compounds in appropriate solvents, and analysis of the extracts by gas chromatography (GC). 

SFE manifests its best advantages when extracting analytes from solid and semisolid rather than liquid samples. A primary limitation in extracting analytes from liquid sample matrices is the mechanical difficulty of retaining the liquid matrix in the extraction vessel. To extract a liquid sample by SFE successfully, analysts must first mix it with a solid material, such as diatomaceous earth or alumina, so that the sample is no longer free-flowing. Control of sample matrix effects is critical in SFE to limit coextractives, moderate the influence of moisture, and improve the efficiency of the extraction. Recent studies have shown that the addition of both inert and active sorbents to the sample matrix can improve the efficiency of SFE (153). 

Solid-phase extraction techniques that are based mostly on reversed-phase (Cis) sorbents, have been also widely used for cleanup and concentration purposes (23, 25, 27, 31, 34, 37, 46, 51, 52, 55, 65). However, many applications have indicated that cleanup using these nonpolar materials may not be very effective in removing interfering substances from sample extracts. Hence, polar sorbents such as silica (23, 26, 29, 30, 32, 40, 42, 44, 52, 53) or Florisil (45) have been also suggested as more powerful alternatives for the isolation and/or cleanup of amphenicols. 

Cleanup of macrolides and lincosamides from coextracted material can also be accomplished with solid-phase extraction columns. Nonpolar sorbents such as XAD-2 resin (148) or reversed-phase sorbents (133, 134, 137, 141, 142) are usually employed in solid-phase extraction. In the latter case, ion-pairing with pentanesulfonic acid can also be applied for enhancing retention onto the hydro-phobic Ci8 material (154). However, these sorbents are not always effective for efficient cleanup of liver and kidney extracts. The basic character of macrolides and lincosamides suggests that cation-exchange sorbents such as aromatic-sulfonic acid (145,147), or polar sorbents such as silica (144,152,153), aminopropyl (139), or diol (149-151), can be powerful alternative approaches for isolation and/or cleanup of these compounds. 

Cleanup of nitro furans from coextracted substances and concentration of the extracts can also be accomplished with solid-phase extraction columns. Nonpolar sorbents such as reversed-phase (Cis) (37, 159-161, 170, 173, 177) or XAD-2 (178) materials are usually employed, since they provide high recovery of the analytes. However, in many cases, cleanup on these nonpolar sorbents is not effective in removing interfering substances from the extracts. Therefore, polar sorbents such as silica (29, 162), alumina (160, 179, 180), or aminopropyl (175, 176) materials are also frequendy employed as a more powerful alternative for extract cleanup. 

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